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Horsefly salmon festival receives grant

The Horsefly River Roundtable has received $4,014 to support the conservation and recovery of Pacific salmon populations and habitat in British Columbia.

The Horsefly River Roundtable has received $4,014 to support the conservation and recovery of Pacific salmon populations and habitat in British Columbia. 

The grant is provided through the 2011 spring funding round of the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Community Salmon program, foundation spokesperson Elayne Sun said in a recent press release.

The funds are provided to the roundtable for staging the annual Horsefly Salmon Festival, which draws 750 to 1,500 people to celebrate the return of sockeye salmon to the Horsefly River.

Part of the project engages students in creating educational banners and sculptures for the festival. 

Horsefly River sockeye sustain the economies of many coastal B.C. communities, and First Nations people.  The decaying fish are also a vital nutrient source for other species including birds, insects, wildlife, fish and even trees. 

Projects funded through the Community Salmon program focus on monitoring and rehabilitation of salmon habitat and salmon stocks, education and community stewardship. This year’s spring funding round granted $345,434 to 43 projects across British Columbia.

“Volunteers are the unsung heroes of Pacific salmon sustainability,” said Pacific Salmon Foundation president and CEO Dr. Brian Riddell in the June 17 press release. “Their impact on the environment can be seen throughout the province, from salmon hatcheries and stewardship centers to strategically placed rocks, trees and vegetation that protect salmon-bearing streams. These are all the result of dedicated volunteers working thousands of hours to ensure a strong future for Pacific salmon.”

The grants are made possible in part as a result of money raised at the annual Pacific Salmon Foundation’s annual dinner and auction held in Quesnel. The next one is on March 3, 2012 at the Quesnel Senior’s Centre.

Since the foundation’s inception in 1989, the Community Salmon program has awarded $9 million to 1,229 projects.  

In the last five years alone, grants made by the foundation have helped the volunteer community throughout B.C. to create positive results:

• Approximately 670,000 square metres of stream, lake and estuary habitat created or rehabilitated.

• More than 280,000 square metres of stream-side  planting, including 42,000 trees and shrubs.

• More than 11 million salmon raised  at conservation hatcheries.

• More than 260,000 people reached through public education.

• 30,000 volunteers engaged in wild Pacific salmon conservation.

The foundation works as a catalyst to partner with and motivate more than 30,000 dedicated volunteers, and communities, organizations and businesses through grants from its Community Salmon program. Funding for the program is comprised of partial proceeds from federal conservation stamps on saltwater sport and commercial fishing licenses, voluntary contributions from commercial fishermen, and private donations.

The Pacific Salmon Foundation was created in 1987 as an independent, non-governmental, charitable organization to protect, conserve and rebuild Pacific Salmon populations in British Columbia and the Yukon. 

The foundation’s mission is to be the trusted voice for conservation and restoration of wild Pacific salmon and their ecosystems and works to bring salmon back stream by stream through the strategic use of resources and local communities. www.psf.ca.